ADHD. Approach With Science. Tedx Talk on ADHD October 9th Airdrie, Alberta

This is a guest post by Tracey Sweetapple  who’s a Bert Church Guidance Counsellor  at Rocky View Schools in Airdrie, Alberta. She blogs at Heart of Gradditude. She’ll be doing a TEDx talk on ADHD October 9th Rocky View Schools Education Centre in Airdrie. Title of the talk is ADHD. Approach With Science.

I hope more people do public talks on ADHD. It is really important to countering the myths and stigma about ADHD. And to humanize an inherited neurobiological condition that many prefer to demonize.

If you have ADHD, what do you do for others with ADHD beside your family members?

Taming the Tangents

Restrictions on time, precision of words, specifics on presentation; a Tedx Talk requires that one adhere to a basic outline and winning formula.  I have been working on this presentation for three months now and my talk has evolved many times over.  I am unbelievably honoured to present on ADHD, a topic that is near and dear to my heart – but honestly, this has been constantly on my mind and I look forward to having it behind me.

This is part and parcel of the ADHD mind, I believe.  Honing in on something that piques our interest and we can’t let go of it.  I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it and I repeatedly read and refine my script via Dropbox on my many devices.  When I get an idea in my head about something I want to do, and do well, I cannot stop.  I forget to eat, I lose track of time, and I play ‘beat the clock’ and try to accomplish my evening chores in record time.  Zing!  Adrenalin!

I have had to basically forgo reading fiction because throughout the day my mind would drift to the characters in the novel I was reading and I would be eager to return to my book.  Everything in my life would come to a stand-still as I felt compelled to devour my most recent obsession.  As a child and through young adulthood, this was not a problem, but balancing a professional career and a young family means I read on summer holidays.

Really, if I get down to brass tacks, I don’t have time to read for fun because I have found other ways to hyper-focus and obsess – my work as a guidance counsellor.  Ever since our daughters were diagnosed with ADHD and my husband and I have recognized the symptoms in ourselves, I have been reading and researching as if my life depended on it.  Well, as if my kids’ lives depended on it, because that’s how I feel; to be forewarned is to be forearmed.  I don’t want to look back with regret and think, “If only I had known that, things might have been different or better.”

So, with this pressure I put on myself in general, one can imagine the weight I feel with this Tedx Talk I will deliver on October 9 at the Rocky View Education Centre in Airdrie, Alberta.  I want to represent well.  For my children, for parents, for all those who struggle with ADHD, for those who are misinformed and might be enlightened.  I need to do my part to influence change for my children and by extension, my people.  I do this with a Heart of GrADDitude – I feel fortunate to know my strengths, my limitations and to work in a field where I can positively influence change.

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